most auncient of all For this is alwaies a ryght rule and to be receiued that those thinges which are nought worth in the beginning are no whit better in the continuāce of time and if a mā cannot prescribe against kings and against the Church in their possessions much lesse he can doe it against God and against the trueth which is the only treasure of the Church Nowe let vs come to multitude it is saide expressely thou shalt not follow a multitude to do euill Also the gate is wide that leadeth to perdition Cōtrary wise feare not my little flocke for it is my fathers pleasure to giue you a kingdome Moreouer we see that all the worlde was brought to one onely Noah and afterwards to Abraham Then God chose one people of Israel the least as he hath said of al peoples and finally of all peoples the least part to wit Christendome which for this cause he calleth a litle flocke According to which S. Austin saith that the Church was sometimes in one Abel and in one Enoch Multitude then shoulde be rather a presumption of the false then of the true Church of impuritie rather then of puritie for asmuch also as man in all things is prone by nature to euill and tendeth not vnto good vnlesse he be as it were drawen by force vnto it If we looke to the number of Painims they will set against vs in al nations almost many against one and againe all nations against one only nation yea and in that nation it selfe all the families of one time against one or two as namely in the time of Noah those which were called the childrē of God mocked him his religion Likewise amongst this chosen people of God the Samaritans bare themselues against Iuda for there were ten tribes against two and in Iuda Israel the idolaters gained against the people of God for Elias cōplaineth that he was left alone against the good Prophet Micheas there arose vp foure hundred false the Prophets crie that all the people were deceiued euen from the Kings to the Priests Prophets In the Christian Church also there shall be as fewe in that place for euen at the beginning it was saide Who hath beleeued our word to whom hath the arme of the Lord bin reueiled we read that it was brought to a small number of persons the schoolemen themselues hold that after the death of our Sauiour in one instant it consisted in the virgine Marie alone In the greatest floure of it we reade that after the death of Constantine his sonne being of the same name fauoring the Arrians there were so few sounde professors amongst the Christians that the Emperour reproched thē that foure or fiue persōs with their Athanasius would trouble the peace of the whole worlde to whom Liberius the Byshop of Rome answered that his solitude or fewenesse did no whit diminish the word of faith In the end we are aduertised that when that sonne of man shall come before which that sonne of perdition must seduce the worlde he shal finde neither faith nor charitie on the earth and that those daies shall be as the daies of Noah Lot c. The eclipse thē of this Moone shal be as it were vniuersall all the whole earth being put betweene the Church and the Sunne therefore if we haue no other direction in these darkenesses then the multitude we shall haue no part with that little number Moreouer the Christians which reiect the Pope in Asia and in Affrica are a great many moe in number then the others If the Pope hold them for pure Churches then is the Romaine Church an heretike for she condemneth them and excōmunicateth them for diuers points of doctrine If not then multitude which is a common argument to the impure Churches themselues can not be alledged for a marke of puritie And yet for all this we cease not to praise GOD for the blessing which he hath giuen vnto his woorde making the same to fructifie and encrease to hundreds and to thousandes likewise we pray that as he hath already drawen a part of Christendome frō vnder the yoke of Antichrist so it wil please him to continue it more more But we say that if in certayne places it seeme that God do retire but few as the Pastor that saueth from the mouth of the Lion an eare of his sheepe as saith the Prophet Amos or according to Ieremie taking one of one towne two of one tribe for to retire them into the restauratiō of his Church yet for this cause we must not cal the trueth into doubt for asmuch as the selfe same trueth hath foretolde vs this the great number is no marke of puritie veritie nor the litle number of falshood and heresie Nowe followeth the succession of place and of persons which they alledge against the succession of true doctrine which we require in the Church As concerning the place there is no doubt but that this is to play the Iewes to enclose Orbem in Vrbe that is the whole worlde in one citie For the Church is not any longer tyed to Ierusalem but we see euery day that God calleth his people euen those which seemed not to be his people and contrarywise he hath permitted by his righteous will that many Christian Churches haue bene turned into the Temples of the Turkes as that of Ephesus foūded by S. Paul and S. Iohn and that of Bōne in Barbary wher S. Austin preached c. And further that is said expressely that the Church of God for a long time by reason of the persecution of Antichrist shall retire her selfe into the wildernes as the common glose it selfe doth expound Moreouer the Church is a citie that is to say one vniō of Citizens vnder the iust gouernement of Christ Now betweene a citie and a towne there is this difference that the one cōsisteth in walles the other in the vnion of the people gouerned vnder the same lawes therefore the citie of Rome was at Veies with Camillus being a banished man though the towne of Rome was in the hand of the enemie And Themistocles saide that Athens was in shippes which the Romanes had taught the poore Carthagians to their cost when they made their Citie to be caried out of their towne To be short the Popes thē selues haue maintayned for lxxx yeeres together that the Romish Church had her sea in Auigniō although they had forsaken Rome Moreouer this argument is common to the Churches Greekes Syrians Armenians Ethiopians c. whom the Pope condemneth in many poynts of doctrine To conclude if euer there were Church that might alledge succession of place it was Ierusalem For of it was said The Lord wil euermore dwel in this Temple Also I haue chosen and sanctified this house to the ende that my name may
they who haue nothyng but theyr boasting and vaunting although they haue the greatest titles honors in the world to be on theyr side If therefore our aduersaries aske vs what was the calling of our first Ministers which refourmed the Church in these last times we answere that it was the same vocation and succession whereof they themselues doe bragge but the same vocation which they abused our men haue endeuoured to vse will and to that vaine succession wherewith they decked themselues they haue added the succession of true doctrine which they had corrupted without which all succession is nothing els but a continuing of abuse and error Wickleife Iohn Hus Luther Zwinglius Decolompadius Bucer and others of that schoole from whence the Ministers which haue gathered Churches from vnder Antichrist are descended were Priests as they cal them and doctors in diuinitie As Priests Pastors they had charge to preach the trueth vnto the people to minister the Sacraments vnto them according to the institutiō of our lord As doctors they were called to expound diuinitie in their readings in theyr bookes and they were bounde by the ordinary othe of al vniuersities to declare the trueth vnto the Church to confute al doctrines repugnant against the word of God and what then might to expell it Now in their time they found that the word of God was hid vnto the people that the honor which was due to God alone was turned to men to Images that the blood of Christ was troden vnder foote that the sacrament of the supper was partly turned into Idolatry partly denyed to the poore people To be short that all the holy scripture was prophaned poysoned with the Popes gloses popish interpretations And when they shewed these thinges to the Bishops and Metropolitans according to the order of their Church they made no rekoning of thē they were the first that persecuted thē because they themselues were the infected parte of the Church I aske therefore if theyr vocation commaunded them not to goe farther to witte to preach the trueth vnto the people and purely to administer the holy Sacraments And if they had done otherwyse whether they had not bin forsakers of theyr calling contenmers of theyr othe made vnto God and abusers of the people Both two therefore say I both our aduersaries and our first ministers had one and the same ordinarie outward calling But herein is the difference that that which ours haue followed the other haue forsaken that which ours haue done of duetie by reason of their charge the other haue cōcealed Ours haue ledde their sheepe vpon the mountaines of Israel into good pastures the others haue deuoured them or els left them for a pray to the beastes of the field or els driuen them to the fennes and marishes where they haue starued A magistrate shall be called to the gouernment of a common wealth where he shall finde the good lawes corrupted by the negligence or malice of those that went before his Courts full of iniustice the offices subiect to factions briberies and corruptions and he would reforme all this and bring it to the censure of the lawes He that will further nowe aske him by what right he doth this should he not make him self a laughing stocke because he followeth steppe by steppe his calling He hath not sworne to mainteyne abuses but rather to mainteyne the lawes and to prouide euery way that he can for the good and preseruation of the Common wealth Nowe contrarywise if he wincke at that which is euil he should doe directly contrary to his calling Euen so likewise haue our first Ministers done first requiring reformation and afterwards putting to their handes according to their duetie And if we could aske of the Apostles who are their true successors they would not tel vs Such as haue a triple crowne or such a cope or such a miter but those that preach the word of God after our example For so had they learned of the true master That he which doth the wil of God his father is his mother his sister and his brother At the preaching of these first men the pastors of the Churches were awakened in England in Bohemia in Germanie in Scotland in Denmarke in Swedenland and afterwardes many in Fraunce in Spaine and in Italie it selfe and these were sent to bethinke them of their duetie Consequently some whole Realmes were reformed the bishops themselues that there had preached lyes preached the trueth in the selfe same Church pulpit Of these for the most part if our aduersaries will demaund succession it is on their side for they haue succeeded from bishop to bishop frō the first which preached there the Gospell If they aske a vocation why it is euen their owne for they were called to be bishopps and pastors and they haue performed the office which they had forsaken The difference therefore as we haue said is in this onely point that they feede the people with pescod shales and the others in the pasture of life they defile their flockes with the filthinesses of Antichrist and these wash them in the blood of Iesus Christ Beholde then concerning the calling of our first Ministers which hath whatsoeuer may be good in the pretended calling of our aduersaries and this point further That our men lawfully exercise it and the other do but withhold it in vnrighteousnesse And although some of our men as in so corrupt a state of the Church as we haue seene it in our time without wayting for their calling or allowance of them that vnder the title of pastors oppressed the Lords flocke were called by those Churches to which they vowed their ministery yet this ought no more to be thought straunge then in a free common wealth where the people without wayting either for the consent or voyces of those that playe the tyrants shal haue chosen according to the lawes good and lawful magistrates Concerning the vocation of Ministers which were sent by the former and since by vs we haue herein obserued the example of the Apostles and the canons of the primitiue Church If the question be of their persons we haue lawfully examined both their doctrine and maners And this is the rule of Saint Paul That a bishop must be apt to teach and blamelesse If of the persons which make this examination why it was not one man alone but many ministers bishops and elders duely called before to this Church that is to say the Presbyterie or eldershippe as Saint Paul calleth it or as Saint Cyprian calleth it the ecclesiasticall Senate During this examination whereupon dependeth the election the Church continueth in prayer and fasting as we reade in the ordeining of elders in the Acts. Being found meet they are published to the people to the end that if any man hath ought to say against their election he might repaire before the assemblie as we reade was practised
most famous places and that be shall worke strange signes and wonders we conclude on the contrary part that antiquitie multitude succession and miracles are rather at this day the markes of the seat of Antichrist of that whore then of Christ and of his chaste spouse of whome Christ hath giuen vs this one marke He that is of the trueth heareth my voyce He that is my Disciple abideth in my word That the holy scripture is the vndoubted touchstone to try the puritie of doctrine which is the marke of the pure Churches CHAP. 4. OVr aduersaries doe therevpon obiect vnto vs that doctrine as a common argument and that euery one saith that he hath the pure doctrine on his side and therefore that it can not be alledged as a mark of the pure Churches I answere that this is in deede a common bragge of all heretikes but it is not alwaies a common marke but peculiar and proper to the pure Churches For both the true Christians and heretikes may haue antiquitie multitude succession and miracles as we haue already proued but there is none but the sound and Catholike Church that can haue trueth true doctrine which consisteth in faith and charitie forasmuch as she is one and if the other boast of it they haue nothing else but the sound the which by and by vanisheth if it be once put to the touch Likewise we see commonly that they which pleade together pretende euery one that ryght is on their side In meane time who wil say that seeing both twaine saye they haue right that there is no question to dispute of the right but only that he which is in possession should keepe it He that should say so he should make him selfe a laughing stocke should often times giue authoritie title to the vniust possessor against the right owner For besides the opiniōs of parties there are aduocates to debate the right lawe that must iudge thereof Now for to decide the matter wherof there is questiō thanks be to God we haue a good Iudge The question betweene vs is of the pure seruice of god Now it is not in mans power to iudge howe God must be serued much lesse for a poore pesaunt to make bookes how Princes should be dutifully serued For betweene man man there is alwaies a proportion but betweene man and God there can be none For it is God alone which ought only to be heard in this matter not men whose ordinances of the seruice towards god is for their own turne serue only for their owne phantasies This is the cause why God himselfe would be the onely law giuer vnto his people giuing thē a law which containeth whatsoeuer he requireth of men aswel in general as in particular And to cut of al mans inuētiōs he expressely forbiddeth thē to adde any thing thereto or to take any thing therefro for he saith that he will be serued according to his pleasure and not according to that which is good in mens eyes which he hath knit vp for vs in one worde I will obedience not sacrifice The Priests were men very oftentimes they could not content themselues with this but the example of the sonnes of Aaron may be an horrour vnto euery one who for offering straunge fire vnto the Lord not being commaūded they were consumed with fire sent from heauē And whilest men haue loued their owne inuentions they haue loden the people with traditions ceremonies and gloses and whereas the lawe was giuen to conuince them of sinne to the ende they might seeke mercie in Christe they haue founde out other meanes for their saluation But God by his Prophets which he hath sent from time to time betweene the publishing of the law the Gospel hath alwaies helde them to the lawe To the lawe and the testimonie saith Esai hide my lawe amongst my Disciples And if they speake not according to this worde the morning light shall not be giuen vnto them And because they obserued not this sacrifice it was turned to them into a curse God was readie to make a diuorce with his people therefore to cutte of at one blowe all their madnesses Malachi recommendeth to the Church the obseruation of the law and the ordinances giuen from Moses vntill the comming of Elias that is of Iohn the forerunner of Iesus Christ See then the lawe of the Church euen vntill the Gospel of grace was giuen whereof the Prophetes were expositers by which a man may distinguishe the false seruice from the true without hauing anye recourse to the long possession thereof which had but small authoritie to giue power to Ismael him selfe agaynst Israel To be short he of whom it is only said Heare him to teach vs by his example hath giuen so great authority to the lawe that he will haue the people thereby to iudge whether he be Christ or no Search saith he diligētly the Scriptures for you thinke that by thē you shal haue euerlasting life and they are they which beare witnes of me The iudge of the world attributeth so much to the lāw that he wil haue the world to iudge by the same law whether he be the true Messias a deceiuer of the people or the sauiour of the world And why so because it is not the word of Moses nor of Esai nor of any men but euen his who sent him Nowe by the comming of our Sauiour Christ the holy scriptures haue lost nothing but rather haue the greater authority God which hath spoken to our fathers sayth the Apostle sundry times in diuers maners hath in these last times spoken vnto vs by his owne sonne This sōne is God himselfe this is that essētial word this is he by whose cōming the Church waiteth for the manifestation of al things The word then that proceedeth frō him ought to haue an infinite absolute authority therūto must mē adde nothing For it is the infinite wisedome of the infinite father and can teach vs whatsoeuer is necessarie for our saluation And seeyng he hath so loued vs that he came into the world to dye for vs he would not then hide from vs the worde of life To be short he came to lighten vs in darkenesse and hath promised neuer to forsake vs He hath then left vs some light to guide vs and seeing he is that same light it selfe it is such a light as we following it we cannot be deceiued Nowe this then is that same written word of God which is the true image of that essentiall worde in which he hath imprinted all that is necessarie for vs to the glorie of God and all that is expedient for our saluation The Apostles receyued this worde from his mouth to preache the same to all the worlde and herein they were true and faithfull Ambassadors Agayne the spirite of God through which they preached indited it and taught them what they
as Athanasius also a fewe of the best sort with him at Rome during the time that the Arriās beeing fauoured of Constantius the Emperor spoyled and infected his Church of Alexandria And euē so likewise we at this daye in right are of the poore Church of Fraūce of Italie and other places which Antichrist holdeth by the throte to cause thē to abandon their saluation And assoone as Antichrist and his mayntainers shal be gone with al the infection which they haue brought into the church we shal be altogether ready to draw neere vnto thē to ioyne with them as nye as euer wee did and to runne to the Churches with them there to reioyce together for their deliuerance Let the wolfe be gone out of their fold behold vs al ready to enter in In meane time we wil pray vnto god to driue him away that it wil please him to deliuer thē from vnder his claw will shew thē this mercie we wil enforce our selues all that we can to deliuer thē To be short we are kuit with them in doctrine if they haue regard to the aunciēt doctrine of the Church of Rome but we cōdēne that of the popes where with he oppresseth their consciences Also we are in true charitie for what greater charity cā there be in the world thē to rid the world of such a one But we renounce that Tyranne which strangleth their soules and seeing that God by his singular grace hath deliuered ours frō him we proclayme opē warre against him for their sakes with all our heartes These things beeing wel considered it is very easy for vs to distinguish who are schismatikes that is to say the aucthors of that separation which was made in our time in the west churches either we or our enemies The canon lawe sayeth that Schisme must not be considered neither in the nomber nor place but by the cause that he is a schismatike which is the cause of schisme not he which beginneth the separation euen altogether like as he which denyeth the lawe is the cause of processe and not he which first beganne Now we haue required the pope and his prelates to reforme the Church according to the Scriptures and to the auncient forme desiring to remaine vnited with our brethren and in steade of agreeing vnto vs they haue excommunicated vs without euer hearing vs The prelates therefore of the Romaine Church are the Schismatikes and not we who demaunde nothing else but Reformation to make vs at one Also the Canon sayeth that the essentiall and materiall cause of all Schisme is want of charity Nowe for our parts we haue offred our liues to death to recouer our brethren from errour and contrariwise the prelates of Rome to drawe vs frō that they say we are what earnest request soeuer we could make they would yet neuer graunt vnto vs a free Councill But when they haue called vs to their assemblies it was to burne vs and not to teach vs and all their Councils were but conspiracies to kill vs and not consultations to heale vs And therefore the lacke of charitie is in them and so consequently the cause of Schisme Also the Canon lawe teacheth vs that is to saye the Pope him selfe That the Pope which suffreth a controuersie to waxe olde in the church concerning saluation he is one that seeketh after deuision heresie And that if he be required to helpe it by a generall Councill and do it not of Apostolique which he should be he maketh him selfe an Apostata and Schismatike That as from such a one the Cardinalles Prelates Priestes peoples and prouinces ought to separate them selues for that asmuch as lyeth in him he suffreth the people children that are borne to growe vnder two heads into two churches That all those that winke in that matter specially hauing a charge and a calling to withstand it they are partakers with his faulte and are schismatikes as well as hee notwithstanding all their othes homages obligations which they haue made vnto him And in deede by the counsell of the diuines of Paris folowing the foresaid coūsell king Charles the sixte declared him selfe his realme all his subiects to be separated from the cōmunion of pope Iohn the 22. afterwards by the same counsell cut of him selfe from the obedience of Benedict the thirtenth from Gregory the 12. admonishing and requiring all princes to do the like For that saith he in his protestation they will mainteine diuisions in the Churche by their tretcheries and vvill not submit themselues to the ordinarie meane of a free councill and to the determination of the church Now it was eight score yeeres agoe that this strife began in the Church after threescore yeres or thereabouts it was spread ouer all Europe The princes and people called still for a free councill and alwayes sometimes by one meane sometimes by another the Popes went scot free During all which time they sought all the wayes they could for their liues ordinary extraordinary to make an end of vs They therefore their mainteiners though the saluation of Christendome was not in controuersie as now it is are by their own canons foūd schismatikes they who haue winked at it fautors of schisme they who haue with drawē themselues frō their obedience admit that their Popes had bene sometime heads of the Church no Antichrists are grounded in the trueth exempted from all suspicion of schisme and blamelesse of all the mischiefes and disorders which through schisme haue arisen in Christendome Now cōtrariwise if as we hold the Pope be Antichrist the papall doctrine contrary to saluatiō in Iesus Christ and al the seruice that they do in al the churches that acknowledge him which they cal the church of Rome polluted with idolatrie thē there needs no longer disputatiō whether men do well to separate thēselues from him or no but rather to conclude ful and wholly That we are traitors to God who hath created vs to Christ who hath saued regenerated vs to the Church who hath borne vs to be short to our brethren to our selues if we protest not against his blasphemies if we withdraw not our selues from his obedience if we renounce not his cōmunion to be shorte if we do not our vttermost to make him knowē to euery one and to deliuer the world from his tyrannie Hereupon thei obiect vnto vs that Moses for the idolatry cōmitted amongst the people of Israel to the golden Calfe separated not himself I graūt it But they must adde that Moses chid Aaron chastised the people ground the golden calfe into powder and cast it into the water There was no cause then that he should flye Idolatrie because hee coulde driue it out Nowe wee will not bee more scrupulous then Moyses Let them suffer vs to beate their Idols to powder to cast Idolatrie out of their Church and
the canker of these heresies fret no farther but may in time be stayed that God may be glorified his poore Church preserued and his gracious blessings fealed amongst vs not onely in our dayes but in the dayes of our childrens children after vs Amen Your good Lordships most bounden and faithfull Io. Feilde To the most excellent Prince Henry King of Nauarre Prince and Souereigne Lord of Bearne c. Peere and chiefe Prince of the bloud royall of Fraunce THIS litle booke which I presume to offer to your maiestie my very good Lord belongeth vnto you by a double right First in respect of the matter for it intreateth of the Church whereof it hath pleased God to raise you vp to be a defender in our coutrey of Fraunce Then in respect of the Authour himselfe for seeing that he hath vowed and giuen himselfe to your maiestie with all that by Gods grace he is able to bring foorth the proprietie and right is in you Wherfore if it shall please you to reade you shall finde herein a little after what ought to be the right condition of the Church of God and what now at this present it is vnder the tyrannie of the Pope in the Church of Rome and consequently what honour God hath shewed vnto you in our time choosing you out from amongst so many great Princes to deliuer it from such a bondage The world will make no accompt of these honours neither is it of the worlde But to a Christian Prince who will consider that God doth hold his Church so deare that he hath giuen his dearely beloued sonne to the death and to the contempt of the world for her sake this honour shal be more precious in his sight then the whole world This vndoubtedly is a great work wherin verely there is much toile for the word of God is certaine that the nations and kinges of the earth for the most part will bande themselues together to maintaine and vnderproppe the kingdome of Antichrist But beyonde this as in all great thinges so in this there remaineth at the end of this toyle a most assured victorie For this thing the word of God telleth vs that it must needes be that that kingdome must fall and that Christ must be acknowledged through all to be the King of kings and Lord of lords yea that they themselues which shall haue mainteyned Antichrist shall hewe him in pieces Of this trauel the worst and greatest brunt is already past God hauing for the comfort of his children deuided it amongest so many great and notable personages which in our time haue trauailed therein and nowe haue rested themselues from their trauailes in that same blessed happines And if so be any thing yet remaine it behoueth that you take good courage For God who hath crowned you will also crowne this good worke by you and as for the forces which now they doe seeme to make what are they else but the gryâ—ng wringings of Antichrist And these griping â—â—â—gings are euident and vndoubted tokens that hiâ—â—â—â—â—h draweth neere God hath made you my very good lord to know his trueth euen from your childhoode and he hath employed you in his woorke in your first youth Hee hath beautified you with great gifts to this ende as strength of body quickenes of spirite valiancie of courage And employing these in his seruice he will crowne them in you with happines honour riches and high aduauancements For these are no other then accessories and he who hath giuen you the principall can giue you these and by him alone also it is that kings reigne and that princes Judge the earth And Sir this is that which he requireth of you This is it that Christendome looketh for at your hands This is that which all good men doe promise themselues This then is the alone and onely marke that your maiestie must ame at And therefore Sir as one of your most lowely seruants I make this humble petition that day and night you may liuely represent and keepe before your presence the dignitie and greatnes of this charge to which God hath called you that you may employ those rare gifts which he hath giuen vnto you for the establishing of his kingdome that you may thinke then to reigne most safely when he shall reigne by his worde in the middest of you This is the most sure and short way that your trustie seruantes can direct you in for the establishing of your highnes I beseech God therefore Sir that it will please him to assist you through his spirite in this worke to gouerne your heart and all your actions and to heape vpon you his blessings both spirituall and temporall to his owne glorie and the benefite of his Church Your most humble obedient and faithfull seruant Du Plessis To the Reader I Pray thee gentle Reader to reade this treatise not as hauing alreadie founde the trueth but seeking for it likewise and I pray thee to read it out before thou iudge of it And if it accord as the doctrine of the trueth I adiure thee in the name of God by thine owne saluation that thou openly declare it For it behoueth that we waite no longer to speake seeing once that wincking at the kingdome of Antichrist our kingdome falleth to ruine in the ruine whereof is the danger of vs all If yet there be founde any doubt they shewing it by writing we shall by the grace of God endeuoure to make it cleare But if there be any which will improue the whole I praye them that they wil answere point by point and reason by reason in the spirite of sinceritie and gentlenes seeking in steade of the prise of victorie the saluation of the people and not the glorie of this world For I protest before God that in this treatise I haue aimed at no thing else but their saluation What the visible Church is and what are the sundry states thereof CHAP. I. GOD through his might the Creatour of mankind vouchsauing of his owne good wil to be the Father thereof would that the Church should be honoured acknowledged as mother of all those of whom he vouchsaueth to be Father in his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord And forasmuch as we are not saued but in this that God hath allowed vs for his children and that he hath allowed none to be such but those that are regenerated and nourished vp in his Church if we desire our saluation it is necessarie that we acknowledge her in whose lappe we haue it And if we will be heires of the Father we must be vnited in the familie of the mother in which it hath pleased him to beget those againe whom he hath ordeined to be hetres of his kingdome and coheires of his dearely beloued sonne Iesus Christ our Lord. All they that are knit and incorporated into this Churche in true faith charitie are partakers of this inheritance because they are members of the body of Christ and without her
his word cherished nourished vp in the faith and she at the first giuing vs sucke and afterwards more fast and strong meate through the Communion of Christ his bodye in the Supper we are more and more vnited to him and by this meane inuested into that heauenly inheritance It followeth then that she is the pure Church and true mother who bringeth foorth vs her children through Baptisme regenerateth norisheth vs through the worde knitteth vs to Christ and so a-amongst our selues one to another through the Sacrament of his Supper that is to saye shee is the true mother in which the worde of God is purely preached and the Sacraments according to the same worde duely administred In the Church of Iuda and Israel Circumcision occupied the place of Baptisme the Passeouer of the Supper the worde of God alwayes keeping his place as the ordinarie nourishment of the children of God and therefore we see that after their entrie into the land of Canaan Iosue being admonished by the Lord to repaire those faults committed in the desert made the people to be circumcised and bound them by an othe if they would be his people to keepe the word of God that is to saye if they would bee his Church Likewise Iosias after so great confusions and mingle mangles when he would reforme the Church in which there was not so much as that visible marke which circumcision had left in the flesh we see that he began there first digging vp as it were the law which had bene buried published the same and made the people to sweare solemnly vnto it And cōsequently he caused a Passeouer to be proclaymed in these woordes Celebrate the passeouer of the Lord your God as it is written in the booke of this couenant that is to say according to the ordināce of the Lord your god Esdras also after he was returned frō Babylon for to reedifie the temple and to restore the Church he began at these foundations he expoundeth the lawe vnto the people and maketh thē to sweare in the forme of that couenant and after to nourish and fortifie them in the hope of their saluation to come he restoreth againe the true vse of the Paschall according to those things sayeth he which were written in the booke of Moses To be short al the true seruants of God after that there came any great scattering of the Church being willing to redresse it they haue alwaies before al other things restored these markes no otherwise then a good Captaine who after a great slaughter confusion raungeth his men into an aray and planteth his standerds in some high place to the end they may shew them selues to all sides Iesus Christ who is the true husband hath giuen vs no other markes to knowe his espouse by For this cause that he calleth the Church his wife he teacheth her her duety which is to obey his worde and not to hearken to the voyce of a straunger not to lose the tokens nor to defile the Iewels and pledges of her mariage but marke how he speaketh in expresse wordes He that is of the trueth heareth my voice And againe My sheepe heare my voice and I knowe them and they followe me and in another place Ye heare not because you are not of god The pure wife and Church then of the trueth is onely she which heareth the voyce of Christ Not a voyce in the ayre or an imaginatiue voyce but that voyce which hath it Echo out of the scriptures and which will resound vntill the end to witte the same that is pronounced by the mouth of his Prophets Apostles vpon which Saint Paul teacheth vs that the Church is founded Christ Iesus being the chiefe corner stone This is the cause why sending foorth his Apostles to erecte the Christian Churches he saith vnto thē Goe and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father c. and teaching them to keepe all that I haue commanded you And in the Actes we reade that the faithfull continued in the doctrine of the Apostles in the Communion breaking of bread in prayers which is no other thing but a briefe description of the true Church of Christ instructed by the worde in true faith and knit together in true charitie through the Communion that is in him The which thing S. Ambrose teacheth vs saying that the Catholique Church is that where God speaketh with his seruāts and S. Augustine also whē he placeth the ministerie of ministers pastors of the Church in the word of God Sacramēts Let vs yet adde hereunto the third mark of this church albeit it be not of the substance but outward to wit the lawful vocation of pastors ministers of the Church which haue the administration of the things aforesaid For seeing that there is question of preaching be it by the word or by the Sacraments which are vnto vs as a word that may be felt and that to preach it behoueth that the ministers be sent it is very necessary that the Church of God haue an order to send forth their pastors But more shal be seene of this point in another place We wil call then the true pure Churches all those wherein we finde the worde of God and Sacraments purely and lawfully administred that is to say as Cyprian saith according to the institution of the Lorde And we nothing doubt to communicate with them that God is there president howsoeuer in some certaine pointes of doctrine there haue bene some errour and in the outward policie some abuse and corruption and impuritie in maners for it behooueth that alwayes we resort thither when the chiefe pointes of the foundation of our saluation be there truly taught seeing we are men the Churches are compounded of men as speache and language consist of syllables and letters of the qualities of which men as long as the Church is in this world she is alwayes a partaker As concerning the false and impure Churches they are not so easely to be defined Trueth soundnes and right are but of one sort but errors diseases crookednesses are without nomber Againe there are many kindes degrees of impure Churches notwithstanding we can say in one worde that al those Churches are impure in which the word of the Lord and his Sacraments are impurely ministred that is are administred both against the honor of God and the saluation of our neighbour and because that the whole Gospel is nothing else but faith and charitie and whole Christ nothing but head and body we may make two principall kindes thereof calling those Heretikes which erre in the faith doctrine of Christ those schismatikes which sunder themselues from charitie and from the communion of his body which is the Church yea although they agree otherwise to the trueth of doctrine in all pointes Nowe as there are many pointes in the
the pure Church Concerning miracles if a man speake of those which were wrought either in the publication of the lawe by Moses or in the confirmation of the Gospel by Iesus Christ his Apostles it is certaine that they were generally wrought aswel for the Samaritans as for the Iewes for heretikes as for sincere sound professours for the pure churches as for the impure forasmuch as the onely question is towards one to shewe the true God giuing forth the lawe towards the others the true Christ promised in the lawe whom both the one the other make profession to receiue worship And therefore this argumēt is common to both two Concerning the other which they alledge specially in that same state in which we say Antichrist heareth dominiō I say they are false in effect because they heare witnesse to falshood but if they had any true yet they are not therefore sure testimonies of the trueth The heathen had their deuilish miracles in the temples of their false gods some in effect true as may appeare by all their histories Simon Magus who would be ack nowledged for Christ wrought miracles So likewise did Apollonius Tianeus and Apuleus of Madaure But these for the most part might be illusiōs the which the deuil wrought to abuse fooles hauing nothing as S. Augustine saith more agreeable to this then their outward senses But God wrought those great miracles among the Samaritanes in their strongest Idolatrie as when he made the Assyrians to be eaten of Lyons for to reuenge his contēpt among his enemies not to authorize the faultes abuses of the people He wrought some in the time of those heresies next before the cōming of Christ to shewe the power of his name to al nations Yea it should not seeme straunge when he will worke such in lands newly found for to vāquish the deuils which reigned there Al this then is too litle to be a marke of the pure Church vnlesse the churches of the Samaritans the heretikes of the former times had bene pure churches This is that which S. Augustine answered to the Donatists which would proue their doctrine by miracles You alledge sayth he miracles in which a man is not to be heard in respect of the place but in regard of his desire We wil not proue our church neither by succession of Bishops neither by the authoritie of councels nor by the nūber of miracles nor by visions nor dreames All such things are to be allowed so farre foorth as they are done in the Catholike Church but they proue not that the Church is Catholike for that dependeth vpon the scriptures Our Sauiour Christ hideth not this from vs that he wil cast into euerlasting fire those that haue wrought miracles in his name This is not then as our aduersaries say a gift that sanctifieth them that do them It is also foretold vs that many false Christes shall come with miracles to seduce if it were possible euen the elect And S. Paul saith that Antichrist shal come according to the efficacie of Sathan in all power signes miracles of deceit This then is as litle a gift of the spirit sāctifying and purifying the Church This is more for some of these miracles shal not be altogether false in effect but onely in their end that is because they tend to a false end to establish the seate of Antichrist as saint Augustine hath taught vs vpon this place and Saynt Iohn Chrysostome when hee saith that there are miracles not onely of illusion but true and effectuall tending to bring in falshood Now if miracles approue the puritie of the Church and the trueth of doctrine then Antichrist hath gained his cause if not it is so farre of that the miracles wrought vnder the Papall sea ought to be alledged for confirmation of puritie that rather quite contrary seeing that no other miracles are promised before the comming of Christ but his owne we should suspect that the Romane Sea is that prodigious sea of Antichrist which was before foretolde vs Let vs folow thē amiddest these difficulties the instruction that Iesus Christ hath giuen to all Christians in the person of his Disciples There were miracles wrought before his birth but none were nere accōpanying his owne birth therfore there could be no abuse in it In his life time there were an infinit sort wrought of which they were made eye witnesses he being fastened to the crosse dead buried afterwardes they sawe him eate and drinke with them But of al those famous Magiciās their inchantments died with them neither was there euer one raysed vp againe For it was inough for him to say vnto them at his departure You haue seene the singular miracles which I haue wrought You ought therefore no more to doubt that I am that same anoynted which was promised vnto you Contrariwise he sendeth them to the Prophetes to Moses to the Psalmes and to be short to the holy Scriptures to the ende they may there marke what they haue seene and what was therefore told them by the Spirite of God and that what he had foretold them was now also accomplished Touching reuelations and visions which are a kinde of miracles we haue the plaine text which decideth this matter If there shall arise saith the Lorde amiddest thee a false propher or a dreamer of dreames and that the signe or miracle which he hath told thee come to passe saying Let vs followe straunge gods c. hearken not to the words of this Prophet c. There are then both Prophets and visions true in effect and yet false in theyr ende and triall which triall is doctrine as is to be seene in this place Lykewyse when Saint Iohn to the ende to keepe vs from false prophetes exhorteth vs to proue the Spirites by and by he addeth Hereby shall you knowe the Spirit of God Euery Spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the fleshe is of God c. that is to say proue the spirites by the doctrine which they preach Therefore Saul Cayphas haue prophecied but as S. Augustine saith as Balaās Asse once spoke and yet for all that they myght haue once spoken the trueth For the deuil him selfe to couller his lying some times speaketh trueth We conclude then that all the foresaide markes are not the infallible markes of the sounde and pure Church First because they be not substantial but outwarde Secondly because they are common aswell to falsehood as to trueth But that they may be markes they ought to put a difference Thirdly they neede to be proued and approued by another marke to witte doetrine to be short seeing it is said that in the ende Antichrist shall come and seduce the greatest part of the people and that he shall sitte in the Temple of GOD that is to saye in the Churche it selfe and in one of the